‘Conference committee should shun partisanship’

In this prece, Otasowie Osazuwa contends that the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference may have compromised its credibility and fairness, judging by the controversy that trailed the ranconous stakeholders, meeting in Benin-City, the Edo State capital.

When President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan announced his decision to convoke a national conference on October 1, 2013, the news was received with mixed feelings. For many, it should provide the long-awaited opportunity for the different ethnic nationalities to justify their continuous co-existence in an egalitarian Nigeria. In other words, they were convinced that the conference would provide the appropriate platform Nigerians need to address all the issues that seem to be threatening the unity of the people. Therefore, they had reasons to look forward to its convocation as it will surely provide the right atmosphere for the aggrieved to express their concerns with the hope that someone somewhere would listen to them and for once act right to save the country from one disastrous drift.

Many were not so thrilled. Particularly for the fact that the country has had ten different conferences in the past, meant to address same issues without any meaningful result, they wonder how the proposed one will be different. Certainly, those were the views already on ground before members of the advisory committee on the proposed national conference made a cameo appearance in Benin City, Edo state capital to seek the opinion of the people of the South-South geo-political zone on Monday, 28 October, 2013. Senator Femi Okuruonmu, chairman of the committee made the point that the conference would address all issues, listen to all views without pre-judging anyone when the group paid a courtesy call on the state governor, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole.

Sadly, if what transpired at the Imaguero Colleague hall, venue of the event is anything to go by, there are indications that the conference may indeed, not be ready to listen to all Nigerians with different opinions. More or less, it goes a long way into proving that there may be a hidden agenda for the proposed conference, a reason for which stakeholders are convinced it may have died on arrival.

Trouble began when, in the spirit of fair hearing, the Comrade Governor expressed his personal views about the proposed conference. It was to the effect that he has no faith that the conference outcome would be better than the others before it. While reiterating his misgivings, the governor was unambiguous about his readiness to eat the humble pie in the event of a successful outcome. “I want to make my own comments. They are my views and not the views of Edo State. It is not the view of any particular ethnic nationality. I think as a Nigerian, we all have a stake in this country and we have a duty to lay a solid foundation for the future of this country. I have a duty to be honest and truthful on the views and position that I canvass. My views are different. I asked the question, why are we having a national conference? I believe that anyone who convenes a meeting must be clear why he convened a meeting. I have had the opportunity to travel far and wide. You don’t assemble people and then ask them, what do we talk about? Whoever wishes to convene a meeting must be clear on what the issues are. When you have stated why the meeting was convened, you can then ask what should be added or deleted. When I was the NLC president, a former president convened a national conference. People from various states converged, money was spent and in the end I can’t remember what came out of that conference. It is a valid point to make that we failed before, we can make amend but it is important we learn from our history. I will be surprised if anything changes. As a leader, I have no business to mislead anyone. This conference will not be different from any previous conference…”

Evidently, there is hardly any justification for anyone, let alone, a member of the presidential committee, to heckle him for airing his opinion. Indeed, some have argued that the governor should not have spoken the way he did for fears that his views can’t just be personal but a collective view of Edo people. The same people chose to forget that Nyiam, a member of the presidential advisory committee, represents the president. If they have not, they should be able to remind themselves that Nyiam’s action is not only a collective abuse on the people of Nigeria but also a slap on the integrity of Mr. President. The only good thing is that, so far, no rational observer has adjudged Nyiam’s reaction as proper even though he has attempted to justify it himself. For whatever it is worth, other members of the committee have given their verdict that his action is nothing but a sad commentary on the purpose for which they are touring the different geo-political zones. However, a closer examination of Nyiam, a retired army colonel with an odious pedigree, indicates that, acting the way he did simply proves the fact that he is on a familiar turf. For starters, Nyiam is the same man who almost gave millions of Nigerians a heart attack when he pushed a group of young Nigerian army officers into a coup with the ignoble aim of shredding the country into bits.